1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to assemblies for carrying louvres in vertical louvre blinds.
Vertical louvre blinds are commonly used to selectively obscure or uncover an aperture such as a window aperture. Such blinds comprise a plurality of elongate strip-like louvre elements, commonly of fabric, which hang from a headrail. Each louvre is attached the headrail by means of a carrier assembly. The blind also has an arrangement whereby the louvres may be gathered together at one or both end portions on the headrail (so withdrawing them from the aperture) or distributed along the headrail such that they are spaced apart across the aperture. Additionally, a typical vertical louvre blind comprises a drive arrangement, whereby the carrier assemblies can be caused to rotate the louvres about an axis (which axis is typically vertical) such that they can be selectively caused to lie substantially co-planar with one another, or such that each is in a respective spaced, parallel plane.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
In known vertical louvre blinds, each carrier assembly typically comprises a body which is formed to be slidably mountable on the headrail. A spigot is arranged to project from the body, the spigot having a connection formation, such as a hook, by which it may be connected to a louvre. Within the body is provided drive means in engagement with an inner portion of the spigot by which the spigot may be rotated about an axis so as to cause rotation of a louvre attached to it. The carrier assemblies are mechanically quite complex and as such are best suited to factory assembly, whereas each blind will normally be assembled by a retail distributor using factory-made components.
It is known that, from time to time, the connection formation of a spigot may break. For example, if one of the louvres is pulled sharply from the blind such a breakage. could occur. Although this may not be a particularly common occurrence, it is extremely inconvenient. In a conventional blind, the entire carrier assembly on which the breakage occurred must typically be replaced. This involves removing the blind from its mounting, following which the carrier assemblies must be removed one-by-one from the headrail until the broken one can be removed and replaced. The entire procedure must then be reversed to re-instate the blind. This is a time-consuming procedure which can often cause inconvenience to the owner of the blind.
A further disadvantage with conventional louvre blinds is that there is often a need to provide a blind manufacturer with a range of carrier assemblies having a variety of different connection formations, so that a range of different types of louvre can be used. With the above-described, conventional arrangement, this means that a variety of different carrier assemblies must be manufactured.